A profile of Richard Hutton by Dave Liverman

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Player:

RA Hutton

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Richard Hutton was a good county all-rounder, who never quite was able to escape the shadow of his illustrious father. Born in Pudsey, as was his father, his career followed a somewhat different course, going to school at Repton, and then going up to Cambridge to earn his blue. He represented the Gentlemen at Lord's in 1962.

His bowling was perhaps stronger than his batting, with his 625 first-class wickets coming at 24 runs each. Generally opening the bowling, or first-change, he was an accurate fast-medium, capable of swinging and seaming the ball in and out from the batsman. A tall man, he used his height in both batting and bowling, favouring the front foot, and using his reach to drive. He made five first-class centuries, passing 1,000 runs in the English season twice, but over his career averaging only 21.48. A career-best 189 for Yorkshire against Pakistan in 1971 earned him a Test place, and he took a couple of wickets in the badly rain affected Second Test at Lord's. With a draw a certainty, he opened the batting for England in the second innings, making an unbeaten half-century in undemanding circumstances. He played the remaining Tests of the summer, making a fine 81 in the final Test at the Oval. England did not tour that winter, and Hutton was asked to play for the World XI that replaced the South African tourists in Australia in 1971/72. He looked somewhat out of his depth in a side that included Lloyd, Sobers, Kanhai, Zaheer, Grieg, Graeme Pollock, Gavaskar and Bedi, and was not a success.

He failed to regain a Test place after 1971, and became much involved in the internal wranglings that split the Yorkshire team for much of the 1970s. He and Geoff Boycott developed an intense personal dislike of each other that eventually resulted in Hutton leaving the club in 1974 to concentrate on business commitments. He later became editor of The Cricketer magazine.

(Article: Copyright © 2003 Dave Liverman)